Football pre: Quakers look to roar against 1-3 Columbia

Most people are aware of Columbia football's historic NCAA record 44-game losing streak which ended more than five years ago. But few are aware of the Lions' exploits since. The 52-point loss. The undefeated Penn football team heads to New York tomorrow (1:30 p.m., Baker Field, WXPN 88.5-FM) in hopes of helping the Lions duplicate their loss to Lafayette last week – a 58-6 squeaker. On paper, the game seems to favor Penn on all counts. However the Quakers (1-0 Ivy League, 4-0 overall), have been guilty of losing focus before, most notably in their come-from-behind victory over an inferior Fordham squad in week three. Yet the possibility of taking the Lions (0-1, 1-3) lightly does not overly concern Penn coach Al Bagnoli, given what happened the last time the Quakers journeyed to Baker Field two years ago. Penn lost 20-14 that day, marking the only loss in its last 11 meetings with the Lions. "It's somewhat of a concern," Bagnoli said. "But I feel a lot better because we have enough kids who were on that trip to Columbia two years ago, and we certainly have enough kids who played in last year's game who know what kind of game it actually was." The Quakers defeated Columbia at Franklin Field last year 34-21, yet led by only seven points for most of the fourth quarter until Sundiata Rush iced the win with a touchdown in the game's final minutes. Senior quarterback Jim McGeehan is one of the Penn seniors who was on the field during the Quakers' last loss to the Lions in 1991 and he knows how competitively Columbia plays the Quakers. "It was probably one of my most depressing times when I was walking off the field," said McGeehan of the 1991 defeat. "I only got to play the fourth quarter but it was demoralizing. "With the seniors, that's going to keep us focused, which is going to make the young kids see how focused and ready we have to be in order to win. "Columbia is a pesky team and they don't give up," he said. "The bounce of the ball just doesn't go their way a lot. We don't want to be the team who the bounce of the ball goes against and hurts us. We can't let up." It is pretty safe to assume that luck was not on the Lions' side last week against Lafayette – as is usually the case in most 52-point losses. But there were other circumstances surrounding Columbia's loss last week other than simple misfortune. The Lions were coming off a heartbreaking loss the week before against Colgate. Leading 24-7 in the fourth quarter, Columbia was scored upon thrice in the final five minutes to secure the defeat. "There's no excuse when you get beat by 52 points," Columbia coach Ray Tellier said. "I think Lafayette is a pretty good team but I don't think they're 52 points better than us. We really had a very tough, bitter loss up at Colgate the week before. "I think we're a heckuva lot better this week than we were after Colgate and I think we kind of bottomed out against Lafayette. I don't think we're ever going to play that uninspired again." Neither does Bagnoli. "They're certainly not as bad as that score would indicate," he said. "We're looking more at last year's film than we are a last week's because that was just a complete aberration of things." Still, even if the Lions are unlikely to duplicate their 52-point loss in which they gave up 636 total yards, they are well aware that tomorrow's game against the Quakers will be an uphill battle. They have had a fair amount of trouble moving the football this season to date – particularly in the air, where they have been victimized by poor play (senior quarterback Chad Andrzejewski is 42 of 123 with 9 interceptions) and several dropped passes. Add that to a lackluster ground game and Columbia might well have trouble putting points on the board against a stingy Penn defense. "[Penn is] undefeated and they're doing everything they have to do to win," Tellier said. "We didn't see their game against Dartmouth but we scrimmaged Dartmouth?and we're very impressed with that win. And they've done everything they're supposed to do out of the league. They're playing well and we're going to have to play much better than we have all year to be competitive and to have an opportunity to win." That may be an understatement, but if the Lions really hope to be competitive they'll have to start by shutting down the offensive trio of McGeehan, junior running back Terrance Stokes and sophomore receiver Miles Macik. Stokes is currently ranked seventh in I-AA in rushing with 124.5 yards per game and Macik leads the country with 8.25 catches per game. Last week against Colgate, McGeehan had a field day, completing 22 of 32 throws for a career-high 298 yards. "[McGeehan's] throwing the ball as well as anybody in the league right now," Tellier said. "And I know a couple years ago he was a marginal passer. We're very impressed with him and he's had a lot to do with their success so far." Speaking of margins, the senior quarterback needs just 71 yards tomorrow to hurdle his brother, John, into sixth place on Penn's all-time career passing yardage list. For his part, McGeehan the younger downplays any significance or sibling rivalry the situation might create. "I don't think about that at all. You can't think about it," McGeehan said. "The only record I think about is the 'W.' If we get a 'W' by running the ball every play then that's fine. "The first people I go to after the game are my father and my brother. My brother will tell me what I did wrong. He's one of my best coaches. I think my brother is the best quarterback ever at Penn. That's a bold statement and I'm biased but he has three [Ivy championship] rings and I don't have any. There's no comparison." Well, maybe, but the Quakers will be sure to expect no comparison between the Columbia team they face tomorrow and the one that lost by 52 points a week ago.